Tales From Salem
by ackleholic
Summary: Sam & Dean travel to Salem to help the daughter of John's old friend. What starts out as a mission to put a grandmother to rest, turns into the Winchesters sticking around for a little longer than expected.
1. Chapter 1

Joe Williamson and his wife, Marge, stared at the translucent figure standing at the end of the bar. Either no one else in the bar noticed it, or they just pretended not to see it. The figure seemed to be looking in their direction, smiling and signalling for them to approach her. Joe pushed his wife aside and moved towards the figure, his hands shaking with every step he took. When he finally reached her, he gasped and forced a smile. He knew her and she didn't look anything like the last time he had seen her. He moved closer and rested his hands on the bar top. She looked down at his hands and tried to place her translucent hands on his, but they just slid through. Joe looked at her and smiled, this time it seemed genuine.

"What brings you here, Evelyn?"

Charlie opened her eyes at the sound of her phone vibrating on her bedside table. She reached for it and slid it open without even checking to see who it was.

"Hello?"

"Your grandmother paid us a visit last night."

Charlie sat up quickly and lay back down when she felt the blood rush to her head. She cursed herself for going out with Vincent and his new girlfriend. She hung up and carefully swung her legs off the bed, placed them on the floor and took her time sitting up. Once she was upright and felt the liquids in her head settle down, she called the number back.

"Hello?"

"Hey Joe, its Charlie. Sorry about hanging up on you earlier. I'm suffering from the worst hangover."

"Don't you worry, if you weren't out getting drunk I would be very worried."

"Thanks Joe. So, what were you talking about earlier?"

"Your grandmother, Evelyn McCoy, paid us a visit at O'Hara's last night. She said something about you and then suddenly vanished on me."

"Stop yanking my chain Joe. My grandmother's been dead for 12 years."

"Honestly Charlie, why would I make up something like that? It seems ludicrous to even think of it otherwise."

Charlie held her phone to her chest as she struggled to catch her breath. She had been warned this would happen, but she kept brushing it off. She waited a few minutes to collect herself and then resumed her conversation with Joe.

"I'll drive down later today."

"You don't have to honey."

"Joe, you didn't call me to just tell me that my dead grandmother had suddenly resurfaced."

"Fine. Marge thought it would be sensible if I called you and informed you. Afterall, Thomas did tell us to get in touch with you if this happened."

"Of course he did. Tell Marge that I'll come by later and if it's okay with you guys, could I stay with you this weekend?"

"Sure, I'll let Marge know. We'll be expecting you for dinner."

"Okay. Bye now."

She hung up and stared at the blank wall in front of her. The curse of being in the McCoy family was finally starting to catch up with Charlie and the only choice she had was to call two people she had never met in her life. The two people she considered to be men in her dreams, saving her from her impending doom. She pulled open the drawer on her bedside table and rummaged through the things for the photograph she was given 12 years ago. She found it, flipped it over and dialled the number on the back.

"This is Ellen, I'm not here right now. Leave a message and I'll get back to you as soon as I can."

Once the beep sounded, Charlie left her message: "Ellen, its Charlie McCoy. I was hoping you could give me the number now. I think it's finally time to let them handle my stupid family curse. Thanks."

She turned the photograph to face her and stared at the faces of the two young boys she had heard so much about that they seemed to be a part of her life. She put the picture and her phone on the bedside table, carefully stood up and moved towards her cupboard. She reached for her toiletries and walked out towards the common bathrooms at the end of the hall. So much for being in the best dorms on campus, the bathrooms were still old fashioned and everyone could see everyone else doing their business. She did everything so quickly that nobody even noticed that she was there. As she walked into her room, in just a towel, she heard something move. She paused at the door and then slammed it shut, sending the person making the noise flying to the floor. She came around the corner and found Vincent, her best friend, sprawled out on the floor with the photograph, Charlie's phone and a pen in his hand.

"Vincent, what are you doing?"

"An Ellen called and she asked me to take down a number. And insisted that I write on the back of this photograph."

Charlie put everything on the floor and sat down beside Vincent and looked at the two numbers scrawled onto the back of the photograph. Vincent had scribbled names beside each number and at the sight of those names she smiled.

"You know those two guys?"

"By name only. And I know what they looked like 12 years ago."

"Who gave you this picture?"

"Their Dad. He was friends with my Dad, they served in the marines together. When he came to visit once, he gave me this picture and told me that if anything ever happened to me I should hunt them down. He couldn't give me their numbers because they were too young to have their own cell phones, but he gave me the number of a friend who he said would lead me to them. And you just spoke to her."

"That's the most complicated thing I've ever heard."

"It's kinda cute, atleast I think it is."

"You're going to meet two random dudes because their Dad, who happens to be a friend of your late father, told you that they were the ones to turn to when in trouble?"

"Why do you have to put it that way. It sounded romantic when I told you about it."

Vincent handed Charlie her phone and stood up. Charlie's hands dropped to her lap and she looked up at him.

"What?"

"Can you call them?"

"What? Why?"

"Because I've never spoken to them before, they don't even know me and it's weird."

"You have a crush on two random dudes you've never met?"

"Stop calling them _two random dudes_, they have names!"

"Fine, you have a crush on these Chest brothers?"

"Winchesters' and I don't have a crush on them. I just find it weird to suddenly call them and ask for help."

"What could they help you with that I can't?"

"My dead grandmother is visiting and haunting the bar she and her brother used to own before they died."

Vincent snatched the phone and photograph out of Charlie's hand and dialled the first number on the back. Charlie smiled at him and waited for something to happen.

"Hi, is this Dean Winchester?"

"Great. I'm calling on behalf of Charlie McCoy."

"Sure. I can hold on till you get your brother."

"Hi, you must be Sam. I got your number off Ellen. We need your help."

"O'Hara's, a bar in Salem is being haunted by the late owner."

"Yes, Salem Massachusetts."

"Great. We'll meet you there."

Vincent hung up, threw the phone onto the bed and sighed.

"I'm never talking to guys again. You can do it on your own."

"Thank you so much."

He nodded at Charlie and left the room, muttering something under his breath as he left.

Charlie parked her car alongside Joe's black pickup truck and walked into O'Hara's. there were already lots of people sitting around drinking large glasses of beer and chatting away. They looked up as she walked in and when they recognised her they went back to what they were doing. Joe and Marge Williamson, the present owners of O'Hara's, were behind the bar with their two sons – Jeff and Jack. Charlie made her way past the large group of construction workers and headed towards the bar. She found an empty stool and quickly sat down. To her right was Mr. Winters, the oldest resident of Salem, and to her left was Mrs. Carter, the woman he was trying to woo. She smiled at them both and leaned over the bar to get one of the Williamsons' attention. She finally got Jeff's attention as the sound of a car drowned out all the other noises in the bar. Jack jumped over the counter and went out to check and see who it was and Charlie immediately forgot what she was going to tell Jeff. She remembered that sound and was suddenly afraid of what she had done. She could hear Jack talking to someone and waited for a few minutes before jumping off the stool. She started walking towards the front door when Jack came back in.

"Is Charlie here?"

"Hey Jack, what's up?"

"There's two guys out there looking for you."

Charlie nodded and thanked him. She cleared her throat and smoothed down her jacket before stepping out of the bar. The first thing she saw was the black 1976 Chevy Impala, the car that John Winchester told her was his most prized possession. Then she saw the two men standing beside it fiddling with an old brown leather book.

"Sam and Dean Winchester?"

The taller one turned to face her and frowned.

"Yeah. You are?"

"Charlie McCoy."

"You're not a guy, but a very cute one if I might add."

"My name's really Charlotte, but nobody's called me that in years. My friend, Vincent, was the one that called you."

The shorter one moved forward and smiled at her. Charlie felt her knees go weak, but she controlled herself and stood up straight.

"I'm Dean and this is my brother Sam. I must admit that the pictures my Dad showed us don't do you justice."

Charlie frowned and so did Sam. They both looked at Dean and waited for him to explain.

"When we were kids, he used to suddenly take off for a weekend of something. He would work a job and then meet some old friends and one of them was always Charles McCoy. He would come back and talk about Charles' daughter and how she was the most adorable thing he had ever seen. And sometimes he would bring back a picture of her. He always said that because he gave her a picture of us, she thought it fair to give him a picture of her. I used to stare at that picture for days on end to see what he thought was so adorable about her. Then one day, he came back with this new picture and the girl in that was really adorable. You could say she was my first unofficial crush."

Charlie shifted uncomfortably from foot to foot and looked over Dean's shoulder at Sam.

"You don't tell a girl you meet for the first time a story like that."

"Fine. You do the talking then."

"Fine."

Dean moved around Sam and went for the back of the car. Sam walked towards Charlie, still carrying the tattered leather book.

"Why did you call us?"

"Your Dad told me that if I needed any help with things like this, to let you guys know."

"So, he told you what we do?"

"A part of it anyway."

"Which part?"

"The part where his sons will one day be the real heroes in this and will save many lives. He also said that you guys would help me believe that there really aren't things under my bed and the sound in my closet is just another sound. But I was a little girl then and everything fascinated me. But, if you guys don't wanna help, I'll just call another one of the contacts in my book."

Sam held up his hands and smiled at Charlie.

"We'll help. Just making sure that you are the girl whose photograph my father carried with him on every hunt like a good luck charm."

Charlie smiled at Sam, shifted from foot to foot, trying to make the noise coming from her chest vanish. She pointed towards the bar and when Sam nodded at her, she moved forward. And all of a sudden, chaos broke out.


	2. Chapter 2

Charlie quickly moved into the bar as people pushed past her towards their cars. She knew that Sam and Dean were behind her, but she didn't know what was going on. She ran towards the bar just in time to see her grandmother, in her ghostly form, climb onto the bar and place her hands on her hips. Once everybody but the Winchesters and Williamsons' were gone Evelyn McCoy noticed her granddaughter. Charlie took a step back from the bar, covered her mouth with her hand and looked her grandmother up and down. Evelyn smiled and posed like she was still 25 and when Charlie didn't say anything she shouted.

"Hey grandma, what on earth are you doing here?"

"I've come to collect my dues."

"What dues?"

"You sold my bar to the Williamsons, where is my pay check?"

"I sold the bar only because it was mine to sell. You left it to me in your will."

Evelyn's face fell at the mention of _the will_ and she stepped off the bar. Charlie kept her eyes on her grandmother and when Evelyn finally realized that she was a spirit she muttered something under her breath.

"Grandma, don't!"

But Charlie was too late, all the glasses and bottles of alcohol burst and the bar went silent. Evelyn's ghostly figure was gone, there was glass everywhere and all the alcohol from behind the bar was now on the floor and all over them.

"Great. What a waste of good beer. What the hell was that?"

"That was my grandmother, the spirit I want you to help get rid off."

"Why don't you sound sad or upset or whatever it is people should feel when a dead loved one reappears?"

Charlie looked at Dean while she took off her jacket. He has his jacket off already and was trying to get some of the stuff off of his clothes. She smiled to herself and pulled her back in a ponytail. Dean looked up from what he was doing and raised his eyebrows at Charlie. "Did you answer the question or am I just imagining this silence?"

"My grandmother died 16 years ago and we never got along then. And that's why she left me the bar."

"If someone left me a bar, I would be celebrating. Not selling."

"I don't live in Salem, so it didn't make any sense keeping it. Plus, when I inherited it, I was underage. So I sold it."

Dean grunted and Sam chuckled. The Williamsons stepped around the bar and looked the Winchesters up and down. Charlie moved from her spot on the other side of the bar and stood between them

"Sam, Dean, these are the Williamsons. Joe, his wife, Marge, and their sons Jack and Jeff." There was a murmur of hellos and Charlie introduced the Winchesters, which raised four sets of eyebrows.

"These are John Winchesters sons; they're here to help me. Sam and Dean."

Joe straightened up and shook their hands and Charlie suddenly felt like he was being nice to them only because of their father. Technically that should have been alright, but with John dead and the boys trying to ignore the fact that he was gone, she didn't want to say anything. After the _meet and greet_, the Williamsons gave Charlie the key and made their way towards their black truck parked outside. Once the sounds of their truck had died out, Dean sat down at the bar and wiped away whatever alcohol was in front of him. Sam sat down next to him and they both watched Charlie move around the bar. She could feel their eyes on her back, but she didn't turn around till she found her hidden stash of beer. She put the three bottles in front of the brothers and went on a hunt for the bottle openers. "We can use our hands, Charlie."

She smiled at Sam and walked back towards them. Dean opened a bottle and handed it to her as Sam handed him an opened one. The three of them took long swigs of their beers and Dean leaned forward and looked at Charlie. "Do you want to tell us exactly what is going on?"

So she did, she told them everything. From her grandmother and grandfather buying the bar when they got married to her grandmother dying from depression. Her parents and their sudden marriage, the chaos it caused and how her grandmother made these visits a habit. Throughout the story, neither Sam nor Dean interrupted; they just let her go on and on. Little did they know that she was leaving out the most important part of her life, but according to Charlie, they didn't need to know. When she was done, Sam flipped open the leather book to the last page and pulled out a photograph. He slid over the damp counter to Charlie and smiled when she picked it up.

"That's the only picture we had of you. And then, we didn't know that you were such an important part of our father's life."

"I was eight when this picture was taken. He gave me his latest picture of the two of you and I finally decided that I had to give while I was taking. So I gave him this."

"I think he liked you more than he liked us."

Charlie and Sam looked at Dean, who just shrugged and went back to drinking his beer. Charlie chuckled and Sam nudged Dean. Sam looked at Charlie and gave her an apologetic nod and turned over a few pages in the leather binder and then turned it to face Charlie.

"This was my Dad's journal, he kept track of everything he ever killed or hunted. From what you've told me so far, I don't think your grandmother is an unhappy spirit. I think she just hasn't realised that she's dead yet."

"So, what's the protocol for that Sammy?"

"Shut up, Dean." Charlie smiled at Dean, who shrugged again and took another long swig.

"I think you might need to sit down with your grandmother and talk about what happened."

"That's going to be a little difficult. She's temperamental."

"We gathered." Dean burped after he said that, making Charlie chuckle.

Sam rolled his eyes and gave her the apologetic nod again. Charlie shrugged it off and took a long swig of her beer. She watched as Sam got up and went around the bar to where Evelyn was standing. He ran his hand along the bar and smelt the tips of his fingers. He looked over at Dean and Charlie.

"It's sulphur." Dean jumped off his stool and walked over to Sam. He grabbed his hand and smelt it.

"What the hell?"

"What does sulphur mean?"

"How well did you know your grandmother?"

"Not very well. Why?"

"Is it possible that she was possessed before she died?"

"Excuse me?"

"Sulphur traces are left behind by demons. So unless your grandmother was possessed by a demon, you're not telling us something."

Charlie shifted uncomfortably and looked away from them. Sam didn't notice her uneasiness, but Dean caught on real fast. And for the first time, Charlie saw concern in Dean's eyes. "Charlie?"

"I can't let it out."

"Let what out?"

"The family secret."

"So there is one. No wonder Dad always said that there were things he couldn't tell us." Sam nudged Dean and looked at Charlie. Dean sighed in defeat and leaned over the counter. "Charlie?"

"We have powers."

"Like visions and things, or other kind of powers?"

"We're a family of witches and warlocks."

Dean straightened up and stared at Charlie. Sam did the same and for a second she was sure they thought she was insane. "You're not kidding."

"Why would I kid about something like that?"

"To get us hyped up?"

"I'm not the hyping kind of person."

"So, you're telling me that I'm standing here, in this old bar, talking to a witch?"

"The last in the McCoy line. And yes, I am a witch."

"This has to be the best day of my life. Other than the fact that your pissed off grandmother drenched me with all sorts of alcohol."

Charlie forced a smile and walked back to where her bottle was. She suddenly felt uneasy telling them about her secret, but if she didn't tell them now, they would find out the bad way. Now all she had to do was get her grandmother to sit down and play nice. If only they knew how hard that was going to be.


	3. Chapter 3

After they left O'Hara's, Sam and Dean drove around Salem looking for a motel. They saw six of them, but chose the last one they drove past. It was a habit and Dean couldn't let it go. Sam was sitting in the passenger seat going through John's journal in hopes of finding something mentioned about the McCoy family. The only thing he found was scribbled and the words _McCoy_ and _spirits_ were legible. Everything else was written in someone else's handwriting and he couldn't figure it out. He got out of the car once Dean had parked it and grabbed his bags off the backseat. He leaned against the car and waited for Dean to get a room and come back. He stuffed John's journal into his bag and stared out at the view of Salem. There was something about Charlie that Sam liked and he could sense that she was uncomfortable around them. He didn't blame her; the only memory he had of her was the picture in his father's journal, where she was wearing a white dress with a bunch of flowers in her hands. And he sensed that Dean did actually have a soft spot for her. But there was something she was not telling them and Sam wasn't looking forward to having Dean prod her till she told them. So he thought he'd wait and ask her later. He pulled out his phone and scrolled till her name and then called her. When she answered on the third ring, his heart did a little skip.

"Hey Charlie, its Sam. Am I disturbing you?"

"Oh, hi. No, I was just helping the Marge clean up."

"Everything okay at the bar?"

"Yeah, you could say that. They've shut it down for the night. So they lose that much money, but yeah so far nothing has happened."

"Make sure you call one of us when something happens."

"Sure Sam, I will."

"Alright then. See you later."

He hung up and waited for his heart to stop beating so fast and turned around to find Dean standing behind him, his eyebrows raised.

"You like her, don't you Sammy."

"What? Shut up Dean."

Dean laughed at Sam as he led the way to the room. It was a large room, larger than most motels they stayed in. there were two large beds placed against one wall and there was a huge dining and sitting area which was divided from the rest of the room by a blinds. Sam pushed past the blinds and pulled out his laptop and sat down. He could hear Dean moving around on the other side of the blinds, humming some random song. Once his computer was fully loaded, he did a search for _witches in Salem_, fully aware that he would get more than a 1000 hits. But he was surprised when the first link he got was for an article on the McCoy family.

"Dean, come here."

Dean pushed past the blinds and made a noise as he stood behind Sam and read over his shoulder.

"'McCoy's secret is out.' They were exposed?"

"Apparently when this article was written, Charlie's grandmother Evelyn had murdered her husband. He was cheating on her with some woman and had even told her about the McCoy family secret. Once Charlie's grandfather was dead, she went public with the story. They could never prove that the family actually had any powers, but there were serious doubts about them from then on."

"That's not cool. What else does it say?"

Sam scrolled down and then stopped when he saw Charlie's father mentioned.

"Listen to this: Charles McCoy, Graham McCoy's eldest and only son, left Salem when he was 21. He moved to Boston to study, got married and had two children. In all that time he came back to Salem twice and both times only to make sure his parents weren't killing each other. McCoy's five sisters left home one after the other when they reached the age of 21. None of the children stayed on to look after their parents."

"So Charlie lives in Boston and comes to Salem only when this happens? Did she mention if it had happened before?"

"I don't know. But they don't mention any of the children again. It's all about the murder."

"Is it possible that Evelyn McCoy is back here to kill the woman who stole her husband from her?"

"If that was the case, she could have done it while she was alive."

"Think about it Dean, if she had killed this woman while she was alive they would have sent her to jail. Or they would decide that she was a witch and the whole family would have been screwed."

"So she let it go and then hung herself?"

"Pretty much, yeah."

"That's just plain stupid."

Dean patted Sam on the back and walked towards the bathroom. Sam flinched as Dean slammed the door shut and went back to his research. He narrowed his search to _McCoy witches Salem_ and hit enter.

When Dean stepped out of the bathroom he found Sam sitting so close to his computer screen that it looked like he had fallen asleep.

"Dude. What are you doing?"

"Check this out."

Dean leaned over Sam and stared at the screen. A picture of Charlie and what seemed to be her family filled the screen. She didn't look happy and neither did the man standing behind her. The photograph had atleast 20 people in it and Dean assumed they were members of the McCoy family. He stepped away from the table and rubbed his eyes.

"Sam?"

"Yeah?"

"Is she hiding something?"

"What?"

"Is Charlie hiding something?"

"Dean, don't go prodding into her personal life."

"She asked us to come here. She asked for our help. If she wants our help, we need to know everything."

"I'm coming with you."

"So I don't say anything stupid? No, stay here. I'll try and behave."

Dean pushed Sam back into his chair, grabbed his jacket and keys and left the room. He knew that Charlie was hiding something and he knew that Sam could feel it too. If she wasn't going to tell them right now, he was going to force it out of her. Or he was going to get Sam and leave. And she could solve this on her own.

Charlie rummaged through the towels in the backroom. She thought she heard someone call out to her, but she couldn't be sure, so she carried on with her work. After meeting the Winchesters, things just got complicated. She could read their minds and she knew that neither of them trusted her. She was withholding information, but she was doing it only because she had to. If they found out the truth about her and her family, they would probably pack up and leave. Never looking back. And she didn't want them to leave, not just yet. And it wasn't only because she wanted her grandmother to rest in peace; it was also because there was something about Dean that made her heart flutter. She picked up a few of the colourful towels and carried them out to the front, only to stop in her tracks at the sight of Dean.

"Charlie, there you are. We've been calling out to you for a while now. What were you doing?"

"Getting towels to mop up the bar top. Dean, what are you doing here?"

"We need to talk. And don't try and get out of it."

She nodded, put the towels on the bar and followed Dean out of O'Hara's. they walked to the side and sat down on the benches near the tiny playground. Charlie kept her eyes fixed on the toes of her Converse sneakers and listened to Dean breathe. It actually calmed her down instead of freaking her out.

"Is everything okay?"

"What aren't you telling us? Huh, Charlie?"

"Things I really can't talk about. Dean, there are secrets in my family that could hurt me for the rest of my life."

"in order for us to help you, we need to know exactly what your grandmother is doing coming back here. Speaking of which, has she done this before?"

"Appearing at O'Hara's? No. But she appeared at my high school graduation and my first day of college. She even appeared at the Williamsons' home once or twice."

"So they know that you're a witch and they're okay with it?"

"All of Salem knew our family had witches and warlocks, it's just that they needed us a lot. So they never let the secret out."

"What about the story of your grandmother killing your grandfather because he was cheating on her?"

"She did kill him and we were thrust into the public eye, but all the neighbours kept quiet about what they knew. So they dropped the investigation. Plus, the local police feel that the whole _Salem Witch Trials_ sent the damn city into a frenzy. They say that none of that actually happened and that witches don't exist. And we don't argue."

Dean raised his eyebrows at Charlie and chuckled. She smiled back at him and quickly looked away.

"So, what's the big secret?"

Charlie straightened up and tried to calm herself. She wanted to tell him, afterall he was going to help her and the only way he would know what to do was if she told him everything. She rubbed her hands together and looked at Dean. He was watching her and when their eyes met, he quickly looked away.

"My grandmother was responsible for all those deaths in Salem."

"What deaths?"

"About 60 years ago, a whole bunch of people went missing and my grandfather found them buried in their backyard many years later. He wasn't having an affair, he was talking to a journalist about it. He was unhappily married to my grandmother and the only way he could get out of it was if he died. So he took a chance and exposed her. This journalist wrote it up and it got published. That day the police showed up and found my grandfather dead. They never found the bodies, because my grandmother hid them in some field. A few years after he died, some of the people in the town confronted her and some even accused her. She took her own life so that she wouldn't have to deal with this. and with all her children gone, she didn't have to worry about anything."

"So she is an unhappy spirit."

"I'm not really sure what she is. She could be unhappy, she could just be unaware that she's actually completely dead."

"You do realise that that's not possible?"

"Yeah, but a girl can hope."

As Charlie said that she noticed a twinkle in Dean's eyes. She was controlling herself from getting inside her head and every bone in her body ached for him to get up and leave.

"Is that all you weren't telling us?"

"I think so."

"So, I'm going to trust you on this and leave. And when I come back tomorrow you won't have anymore stories for me?"

"I can't promise you that, but come back tomorrow and we'll see how it goes from there."

"Okay. Think of some story to keep me entertained."

Charlie chuckled and walked with Dean back to the Impala. She watched as he got in and when he drove away, she felt her heart skip a few beats and then calm down. _Was she falling for Dean Winchester after just one meeting?_

"No way Charlie, grow up, he's so out of your league!"

She mumbled to herself as she went back into O'Hara's, all she should be thinking about was getting the bar back into shape. Before her grandmother attacked again.


	4. Chapter 4

Charlie woke up to the ringing of her phone. It was lying on the floor in the guest room at the Williamsons and even with the ringer off, it was loud. The vibration against the wooden floor annoyed her, forcing her to get out of bed and pick it up. She glanced at the caller id and frowned when it was a number she didn't recognize, but answered it anyway.

"This better be important."

"Yeah, were you expecting company at O'Hara's?"

"What?"

"It's been broken into and pretty much destroyed. Looks like all your hard work went to waste."

Charlie hung up and dropped her head in her lap and played Dean's line in her head, over and over again. She looked at the time on her phone and cursed her late grandmother before walking towards the bathroom. She changed into yesterday's jeans and a black t-shirt, pulled her hair back in a loose ponytail, put on some eye makeup, grabbed her jacket, bag and car keys before heading out. Joe and Marge were awake and sitting in the kitchen reading the paper when she got downstairs.

"Where you off to at this hour?"

"It's six in the morning Joe."

"Exactly my point. Where are you going?"

"I need to meet the Winchesters."

Joe nodded and went back to his paper. Marge waved Charlie off and went back to doing what she was doing. Charlie got into her car and sat there for a few minutes with the car on, before she pulled out of the Williamsons house. It took her 15 minutes to reach the bar and when she did she found Sam and Dean leaning against the Impala, waiting for her. They looked fresh and awake, while she looked like she had been forced out of bed. When she got out of the car, Dean straightened up and walked towards her. She felt her stomach do a tiny back flip and she smiled at him.

"Did I wake you up?"

"Something like that, but what happened?"

"We decided to check out the place as early as we could, without too many customers hanging around. So we came by and found the place like this."

Charlie brushed past Dean and walked to the main entrance of the bar. The doors looked like they had been blown off and all the windows were glassless. Charlie stuffed her hands into the pockets of her jeans and carefully walked into the bar. She kept checking the floor for shards of glass and avoided the large pieces of wood from the front door lying all over the porch. Once she was inside she noticed that all the alcohol she had painstakingly put back on the shelves were right where she had left them. But everything else – from the bar stools to the tables and chairs – were destroyed. Nothing by the booze survived and she cursed herself for having a grandmother like Evelyn McCoy. She spun around when she heard crunching glass and found Sam and Dean right behind her. She forced a smile at them and stepped over the broken tables and chairs and walked to the back. She found a couple of brooms in the back room and carried them back to the front. She handed one to each Winchester and started sweeping things into the corners.

Dean muttered under his breath as he swept whatever he thought needed to be moved aside. He couldn't understand why he had to even do it. What was wrong with leaving things the way they were? Sam seemed to be enjoying the sweeping a little more than necessary and was even doing a better job. Dean stopped sweeping and leaned against the broom. He watched Charlie push large pieces of broken furniture into the corner nearest her. Her curly black hair was pulled back and the tiny tattoo above the waistband of her jeans was faintly visible as she bent down to pick a piece of a broken chair. She straightened up and looked at him, he smiled at her and gave her what he thought was his sexy look. He silently rejoiced when he got the reaction he wanted – a shy smile – and then went back to sweeping everything to the side.

"Question, why on earth are we cleaning up this mess?"

"Because when the Williamsons get here, we don't want them freaking out."

"Sorry to burst your clean bubble, Charlie, but they're going to notice that their bar is missing a door and glass on the windows."

"Dean!"

"What? I'm just stating the facts here. You want to say something else Sam?"

"Charlie, what my idiot brother is trying to say is that there really is no point in cleaning up if it's going to happen again."

"Which we can prevent if we just knew what the hell is really going on."

Dean frowned and shrugged at Sam as he turned around and glared at him. Charlie dropped her broom and leaned against the wall. She slid to the floor and buried her head in her lap. Dean let his broom fall to the floor and as he started walking towards Charlie, Sam put out his arm and held him back. They stood beside each other and watched Charlie's body tremble. Before Sam could stop him again, Dean moved towards Charlie and sat down beside her. He looked up at Sam and nodded towards the door. Sam didn't bother protesting, he just walked out leaving Dean and Charlie on the floor.

Dean waited a few minutes and as he was about to say something, Charlie lifted her head. she wiped her cheeks and took a deep breath before turning to look at Dean. He smiled at her and quickly looked away. They were sitting closer than he thought they were and the fact that their elbows were brushing each others didn't help him any. He cleared his throat and looked at Charlie again.

"Any more interesting stories?"

"Maybe. What exactly do you want to hear about?"

"Right now? Your grandmother and why the hell she is so pissed."

"You mean besides my grandfather wanting to rat out the family to a local reporter so that he could get out of his miserable marriage to a witch for 60 years?"

"Yeah, besides that."

"Well, her children and grandchildren never visited her. Other than my brother and me, none of the other members of the family ever came back to Salem. They didn't even attend a funeral."

"What? Why not?"

"My grandmother was a loony. And she killed her husband. You don't exactly want to attend the funeral of a woman who not only gave you the powers you have to live with for the rest of your life, but also killed the only person who could have helped you out of it."

"Meaning?"

"My grandfather was a warlock as well, but one with powers that could trump my grandmothers. My father and his sisters got my grandmothers powers and the only way they could get out of it was if my grandfather helped them. He had some spell that could save them. And considering my aunts wanted to be regular people with regular lives and regular children, it worked perfectly. But before anything could happen for them, my grandmother killed my grandfather."

"So Evelyn's back to take revenge on her children for not attending her funeral?"

"Maybe. It could also be because none of them wanted the powers she handed down to them the way her ancestors did it."

"But you father kept his powers. Right?"

"Yeah. He was her favorite because of that. But that didn't matter to him; he still hated her for what she did to my grandfather. She ruined my father's life."

"Did she have a hand in your parents' death?"

"My aunts like to think so. No harm in thinking that my grandmother wanted to teach my father a lesson, but what mother would do that to her only son?"

"If she was crazy enough to kill her own husband, she could be crazy enough to kill her own son. But the question is, how did she do that after she was dead?"

Dean frowned and thought about it for a second. His thoughts were interrupted as Charlie let out a loud gasp and pressed her fingers against her forehead. Her eyes were pinched shut and she was trying not to make too much noise, but Dean recognised the reaction. He called out to Sam and watched as she bent over and swore under her breath. She was trying really hard not to shout or scream and when she finally opened her eyes, both Sam and Dean let out sighs of relief. Dean wiped his face and helped Charlie up.

"What the hell was that?"

"Charlie, did you just have a vision?"

Dean looked up at Sam and then back at Charlie. She didn't look confused or shocked, she just looked annoyed. He was still holding onto her arm and he couldn't let go.

"Yeah. That was a vision and one I never want to see again."

Charlie took her arm out of Dean's hands and walked around the bar. she picked up three bottles of beer and passed them over the counter. Sam opened them with his hands and handed one to Charlie as she came back with ice wrapped in a towel. She held it to her forehead and took a long swig of her beer. Dean watched her gulp it down and then waited for her to say something. When she put her bottle down and looked at him, he raised his eyebrows at her.

"Right, the vision."

"Do you get these often?"

"You mean like the way you used to get them? No. they come when there's something happening at that moment."

"Why are we still here if there's something happening at this very moment?"

"Because the vision was of my parents. And they are here. With my grandmother."

Dean exchanged glances with Sam and just as they were about to ask Charlie to elaborate, the ghostly figures walked towards the bar. Sam gulped and jumped off his stool, he moved beside Dean and the two of them just stood there staring at the three people that were actually dead. Charlie came around the bar and stood beside them.

"Mom, Dad and Nana, this is Sam and Dean Winchester. John Winchester's sons."

Charlie's father took a step forward, stuck his hand out and smiled at them. When he realised there was no point of a handshake, he retracted his ghostly arm.

"It's a pleasure to finally meet the two of you. Even though I'm dead and can't shake your hand."

"It's great seeing you to sir. My father spoke very highly of you."

"Well, John was the only hunter I could trust. Him, bobby and Ellen. How are they by the way? Not your father, the others."

Sam flinched as he said that and pretended to ignore the comment. Dean on the other hand cleared his throat and took a small step forward.

"They're great. I'm sorry, but this chit chat is fun and all that, but we came here with a job to do. Can we get down to it?"

Sam tugged at Dean's jacket and Charlie stepped forward beside him. she lowered the ice filled towel and looked at her parents and grandmother. Dean scowled at the expression on Evelyn McCoy's face and waited till one of them spoke.

"You can't burn her corpse and hope she'll go away. You need to move either her body away from Salem or you need to shift O'Hara's somewhere further up the road."

"Why?"

"Because Evelyn died in the bar. And was buried in the back."


	5. Chapter 5

"I'm sorry, what?"

Charlie looked from Dean to her father and back. It did sound worse than it was supposed to and for the Winchesters, this didn't sound like very good news. Her grandmother had an evil smirk on her face and Charlie really wished she could slap her and get rid of it. But she stood rooted to the ground, the towel of ice turning her hand numb. She heard Dean repeat his question, but she had no idea what the question was.

"Charlie?"

She looked up at Dean and forced a smile.

"Do you know where exactly she's buried?"

"I didn't even know she was buried here."

"I thought you came to her funeral?"

"No. I didn't. I wasn't allowed to."

Dean nodded and frowned as he turned to face her parents again. She wished she could help, but at that moment all hope seemed to be lost.

"How on earth are we going to find her body?"

"I know a way."

Dean and Charlie turned to face Sam and when they saw his expression change, they turned back to find all three ghostly figures gone.

"What's the plan Sam?"

"If Evelyn was giving off sulphur, we can use the EMF detector to find her body."

Charlie couldn't understand the whole concept of sulphur; John Winchester had talked about it once before and even then she never understood it. She dropped the towel of ice, causing Sam and Dean to look at her. She forced a smile and bent down to pick up the towel and straightened up when Dean reached it first. He held the towel in his hands and looked at Charlie. Her heart skipped a few beats and she had to look away from his gorgeous green eyes so that she didn't freak out. She looked over at Sam and he looked concerned.

"Why are the two of you looking at me like that?"

"Are you okay?" Dean asked as he rewrapped the towel.

"Yeah, I'm fine. Why wouldn't I be?"

Sam moved towards her and stuffed his hands into the pockets of his jeans. "If you're not okay, it's totally understandable."

"I'm okay; it's just that I don't get the whole concept of sulphur. And maybe that is confusing me a little and driving me insane."

Sam cleared his throat and looked at Dean who just handed Charlie the towel. She held the towel to her pounding forehead and waited for one of the Winchesters to say something. When they didn't even budge, she dropped the towel again and moved away from them.

"I admit I called you to help me. It's not like I had a choice! Ellen said that you were the best, your father told me that no matter what I should call you guys to help me with whatever supernatural stuff comes my way. Now you're here, you're willing to help me solve the problem with my dead grandmother who is leaving sulphur traces wherever she goes. But you're not willing to tell me what the sulphur means?"

Dean cleared his throat so Charlie turned towards him. She put her hands on her hips and raised her eyebrows at him.

"What I'm about to tell you now will sound scary and the thought of your grandmother being anybody or anything other than your grandmother will not make things any easier for you."

"Dean!" Charlie turned to look at Sam, he didn't look happy at all. She looked back at Dean and hoped that Sam's look hadn't made him change his mind.

"Sulphur traces are usually left behind by demons. It's kinda how we know when we're dealing with a demon."

"Why am I not surprised?"

She shook her head and looked back at Dean who was now standing up. He raised his eyebrows at her and moved towards her. "Care to explain?"

"My grandmother discovered these new powers she had, it was about a few months before she died. She thought it was a new development because witches always develop new powers. But they weren't the usual powers, they seemed darker and a lot more complicated. She knew they weren't safe and tried very hard not to use them."

Sam moved closer to Charlie and frowned, "Are you saying that it's possible for her to have been possessed?"

"You can't develop new powers unless there's a good reason for it. Most witches or warlocks get new powers as birthday gifts, putting it simply. When you turn five you get your first set of powers and so on every five years. The only way you can develop powers in between those five years is if someone hands them down to you. Or you are possessed by an ancestor."

"Is it possible for someone other than an ancestor to possess a person?"

"It's easy for anyone to possess anybody, both of you know that better than anybody else. But what's almost impossible is possessing a witch. A witch usually has more powers than a demon or someone that wants to possess you. Unless of course, the demon finds her weakness and uses that as a way to possess her."

"What do you think was your grandmother's weakness?" Dean asked as he moved closer to Charlie. She looked down at her feet and thought about what she was going to say and then finally gave up. "My father was her greatest weakness."

Dean swore under his breath and didn't move an inch. Sam on the other hand threw his hands in the air and moved away from her. Charlie stuffed her hands into her pockets and looked up at Dean; he was watching her, in a different kind of way. Charlie frowned at him and moved away. She sat on the only standing bar stool and rested her elbows on the bar. She could hear Sam and Dean moving around and talking in hushed tones behind her. How could she have known that her grandmother was possessed? It's not like the demon or whatever it was jumped out at her and said, 'look at me; I'm possessing your grandmother!' She sighed in defeat and dropped her head onto the bar, letting the cold wood ease her throbbing head. She closed her eyes and for a second felt like she was somewhere else. She sat up with a start when she felt someone's hand on her back. She turned around and found Sam sitting on the stool beside her. "I know that none of this is what you wanted to hear and what I'm about to ask you might seem almost impossible to talk about, but I'm going to ask you anyway."

Charlie forced herself to nod and then let her body relax. She felt comfortable around Sam; she never had any of those feelings of tension around him. With Dean it was another story, there was only tension and it drove her insane.

"My aunts believed that my grandmother had a hand in my parents' death. The demon or whatever it is that is possessing or possessed her could have bargained with her for something. "Why would she use her only son as a bargaining chip? It just doesn't make sense."

"My father was willing to talk to the journalist my grandfather was apparently having an affair with, and that angered my grandmother. But, is that reason enough for her to want to kill him? And did she know then that she was going die and that the bargain would go sour? I never took her for a thinker." Sam chuckled and turned towards the bar. He rested his elbows on the bar top and rubbed his eyes. Charlie looked at the clock above the liquor cabinets and sighed, it was time for the breakfast crowd and the Williamsons' would show up very soon. She carefully got off the stool and smoothed her jeans and t-shirt down. She patted Sam on the back and walked out of the bar, found Dean sitting in the driver's seat of the impala, with John's journal on the steering wheel. When he saw her, he shut the journal and stepped out of the car. Charlie smiled at him and thought about exactly what she was going to say to him.

Dean shut the door to the Impala and leaned against the driver's door, Charlie smiled half to herself at the sight of him standing there like a broken boy. She stopped right next to him and sighed. "I'm sorry for not telling you everything. I can't open up to just anybody."

"I don't blame you; I'm not the sharing kind either. But I'm just concerned is all and the more you tell us, the faster and better we can help you."

"Concerned? Why are you concerned?"

"As heartless as you think I am, I do have moments when I really want to help someone because of who they are, or who they were to my family."

"First, I don't think you're heartless. Second, it's good to know that you're a softie when it comes to some things." Charlie smirked as Dean looked at her. He had that sexy look on again, the one where he didn't turn his head towards you fully, just enough for him to see you. Charlie felt her knees turn to mush, so she leaned against the car and looked down at her feet. "Dean, I need to ask you something."

"Sure, go right ahead."

"How bad is this?"

"I can't tell yet, we don't know if your grandmother was possessed or made a deal that went south or not. We need to speak with her first and base everything on that."

"So….you want me to arrange a meeting with my deranged grandmother so that we can find out whether or not she was possessed by some demon?" Dean nodded and turned to face Charlie. She forced a smile and turned away from Dean. "So, how are we going to do that?"

"We summon your grandmother's spirit or we use the 'sleepover method'."

"The what method?"

"Ever use an Ouija board?"

"Are you kidding me?"

"Not really, it's worked a million times and I'm sure it will work again this time."

Charlie laughed and looked at Dean. His serious expression made her stop laughing, but at the same time she found very entertaining to know that an Ouija board actually worked.


End file.
